Main menu

Post navigation

Pep Guardiola has a few headaches to deal with ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

A number of players were rested for the midweek defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk but there are still concerns over some crucial players.

[embedded content]

MAN CITY INJURIES

David Silva has been playing with a neck injury for weeks and was left back in Manchester as the rest of the squad travelled to Ukraine, though Guardiola refused to specify exactly what his injury is at his press conference.

Guardiola claimed after the game that Vincent Kompany was due to start against Shakhtar but pulled out. Given the Belgian’s injury record, that does not bode well for City, especially with John Stones out with a hamstring injury.

Fabian Delph was also ill in midweek, although should be fit enough for Sunday’s game.

Kyle Walker and Nicolas Otamendi were left on the bench on Wednesday, with Guardiola highlighting their need of a rest following a busy schedule.

Benjamin Mendy will also miss out with his long-term knee problem.

MAN CITY SUSPENSIONS

Manchester City have no suspensions for the United game but Fernandinho, Vincent Kompany and Leroy Sane are on four yellow cards, meaning another booking would rule them out of the next game, against Swansea next Wednesday. Paul Pogba is suspended for United.

MAN CITY POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP

Kompany is City’s biggest doubt, although pre-derby mind games may have to be taken into account. If he doesn’t play then Eliaquim Mangala should partner Nicolas Otamendi at the back.

David Silva did stay back in Manchester this week but could start on Sunday regardless.

Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho and Leroy Sane all started in Ukraine but that should not necessarily have any bearing on the derby; Fernandinho, barring any late and unforeseen injury scare, will take his place in midfield. Sane is likely to go back in on the left to provide width, though Jesus may have to make do with a place on the bench, with Sergio Aguero starting instead.

MAN UTD TEAM NEWS

Jose Mourinho provided an injury update following United’s midweek victory over CSKA Moscow, and at the same time cast doubt on Guardiola’s claims about David Silva.

“You want the truth or what do you want? You want the truth,” he told reporters.

“The truth is Eric Bailly no chance for the weekend, Phil Jones a chance, [Marouane] Fellaini a chance, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] a big chance and [Nemanja] Matic is injured but will play for sure. [Michael] Carrick no chance.

“I’m telling the truth, he’s injured but will play for sure. No stories of [Alexandre] Lacazette or David Silva. All the truth.

“Our opponents have all these issues. They have a big issue but in the end everybody is ready to play.”

TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME

The match at Old Trafford kicks off at 16:30GMT (11:30 ET) on Sunday, with live coverage in the UK on Sky Sports Premier League beginning at 16:15 following the conclusion of Liverpool v Everton.

In the United States (US), Man Utd v Man City can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial).

OPTA MATCH FACTS

No away side has scored more Premier League goals at Old Trafford than Manchester City (27 – level with Chelsea) while only Chelsea (6) have won more games there as the visiting side in the competition than City (5).

Manchester United have lost seven of their last 12 league games against their local rivals (W3 D2 L7) – as many as they had lost in their previous 45 in league competition against them (W22 D16 L7).

Jose Mourinho’s side are on the longest current unbeaten home run in the Premier League (24 games – W14 D10 L0), with their last such defeat at Old Trafford coming against Manchester City in September 2016 (1-2).

Manchester City have now won 13 successive league matches – a joint-record within a single top-flight season, alongside Chelsea (2016-17), Arsenal (2001-02), Preston and Sunderland (both 1891-92).

Jose Mourinho has won just four of his 19 managerial meetings with Pep Guardiola in all competitions (W4 D7 L8), with just one of those wins coming in league competition (2-1 with Real Madrid at Barcelona in April 2012).

These are the two tightest defences in the Premier League this season, with Manchester United (9) having conceded one goal fewer than Manchester City (10); this despite facing more than double the tally of shots on target (64 v 27).

Article continues below

Romelu Lukaku scored in both of Everton’s league matches against Manchester City last season – the only player to have scored in three successive league appearances against a side managed by Pep Guardiola is Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid v Barcelona between March 2009 & February 2010).

Ederson has only made 20 saves in 15 Premier League appearances this season for Manchester City – his rival goalkeeper at Manchester United; David de Gea has saved 21 shots in his last four Premier League appearances, including 14 in his last game against Arsenal.

Manchester United have landed an early derby blow by derailing their city rivals’ ground-breaking Amazon documentary series, Goal understands.

Amazon have been recording behind-the-scenes footage from every Manchester City game this season as part of a £10 million agreement with the Premier League leaders.

The internet giants have been given unprecedented access at the club, and have already secured hours of footage from training sessions, team meetings, matches, and landed exclusive player interviews.

Related

Beaten but not broken – Man City still in good shape for their biggest test yet

Shakhtar manager Fonseca dons Zorro mask in press conference

Guardiola proud of Manchester City starlets despite first defeat

Ronaldo eyes Champions League three-peat with Real Madrid

But sources have told Goal that Amazon’s camera crew will not be permitted access to several key areas within Old Trafford for Sunday’s derby.

United have made the dressing rooms and players’ tunnel off-limits, meaning Amazon will be deprived of intimate footage from one of the biggest games of the season.

City sources have told Goal they believe United are points-scoring ahead of the top-of-the-table clash, though the Red Devils insist the tunnel area is already full with media rights-holders from around the world.

Pep Guardiola had initially refused to sanction a behind-the-scenes documentary when he first arrived at the Etihad Stadium last summer, but was more open to the idea ahead of the current campaign and eventually gave the thumbs up after consulting his players.

Article continues below

Netflix had been in the running to buy the rights from Mediapro, the Spanish company who have been collating footage since the start of the season, but it was Amazon who clinched a deal in October.

In addition to their work around the City training ground and at various Premier League stadiums, the Catalan camera team have also documented Benjamin Mendy’s knee surgery and initial rehabilitation period in Barcelona.

Good news and bad news for Manchester City. The bad news first; the 20-match winning streak is over and they have lost a match for the first time since April. The good news is that, in all likelihood, it shouldn’t matter too much at all.

Indeed, the only real downside to losing 2-1 to Shakhtar Donetsk is that the timing is not ideal, given it comes right before Sunday’s Manchester derby.

Pep Guardiola will not want one defeat to turn into two, but there are no real suggestions, on Wednesday night’s evidence, that will be the case.

Related

When will this year’s Ballon d’Or winner be revealed?

Who are Ballon d’Or 2017 nominees? Messi, Ronaldo and 30 stars of football

‘My body is feeling the strain’ – Messi happy to start off the bench for Barca

Messi: Ballon d’Or is no longer a priority after five wins

City had already qualified from Champions League Group F as winners long before this game and the only impact the loss should have is on a few of the players’ pride – and even that may not be much of an issue going forward given most of the starting XI will not play on Sunday.

Guardiola has been saying for weeks that his side will lose at some stage, and while he has often said that the most important thing will be how the players react, he has always seemed confident they have what it takes to brush off a set-back and put things right. Given the amount of times they have come up with late winners recently, you would have to say the omens are good.

And, although they could not overturn the deficit in Kharkiv, and in truth never really got near to doing so, bouncing back from this defeat, in what was a dead rubber for them anyway, should be an easier task than having to recover from a set-back in the Premier League.

Especially as only four of City’s regular starters – Ederson, Fernandinho, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus – played against Shakhtar, and that the last named has lost his place to Sergio Aguero in recent weeks anyway. City also returned to the 3-4-3 formation that looked less than fluid in the first few games of the season. Guardiola ditched it in September and City have played their best football since then.

And, on top of that, Fernandinho, so influential to City’s season so far from the back of midfield, was playing in the centre of defence. Phil Foden, the 17-year-old No.10 tipped for a bright future, played at left-back. Yaya Toure and Tosin Adarabioyo, who have only seen action in the Carabao Cup, also started.

This was, in many respects, nothing like City’s strongest team, and Guardiola will be happy that the four first-teamers who did start came through the game unscathed; Sane and Fernandinho were even taken off before the end to keep them as fresh as possible.

Even then, things were not all bad. Yes, the defending was poor in the first half, particularly on the right-hand side, and we saw a mistake from Ederson for the first time since his very first game for City; a pre-season friendly against United.

But the Blues did look brighter after the break and Brahim Diaz, another exciting youngster, looked especially promising when he came on for Sane. Brahim and Foden are City’s two brightest youth prospects and any first-team opportunities cannot be taken for granted.

It is certainly not ideal that they tasted defeat and you would imagine that the players will be annoyed at losing their winning streak, but it will be Guardiola’s job to focus their minds on the bigger picture. Those preparations will start before City even leave Ukraine.

Guardiola took a full-strength squad to Kharkiv – barring the suspended Kevin De Bruyne and the slightly injured David Silva – so preparations for the derby can run as smoothly as possible, and before flying back to Manchester on Thursday the team will train together and be shown video analysis of their next opponents.

Article continues below

City will train again back in Manchester on Friday afternoon and by kick-off on Sunday the vast majority of their strongest XI will have benefited from a midweek rest. Kyle Walker, Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi, Fabian Delph, De Bruyne, Silva and Raheem Sterling did not play a single minute against Shakhtar, while Fernandinho only played 10 minutes on Sunday and Sane did not play against Southampton a week ago. That is nine of 10 outfielders who have hardly been overworked of late. The other is Aguero, who has a fine record in Manchester derbies and who at least kept alive the Blues’ run of having scored in every game this season.

There are never any guarantees in football, of course, and Guardiola will still have his work cut out to get one over his old rival Jose Mourinho, especially now his players have tasted defeat for the first time in months.

But, despite that sour taste, City remain in good shape ahead of their biggest game of the season so far.